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Similar bombings in Bangalore and Ahmedabad are likely the handiwork of Islamist militants wanting to incite communal riots between Hindus and Muslims.

Indian security forces were on high alert July 28 in the wake of two terror attacks in the high-tech hub of Bangalore, Karnataka, and the communally sensitive city of Ahmedebad, Gujarat. The attacks share a number of tactical features and reveal a long-standing strategy by Islamist militants linked to the Kashmir cause to incite Hindu-Muslim riots and provoke tensions between India and Pakistan. In recent years, such attacks have not been very successful in India, but certain factors now in play could change all that.

There is little doubt that the July 25 Bangalore attack and the July 26 Ahmedabad attack are linked. The perpetrators of both attacks focused on soft targets using several small, concealed devices that were triggered to explode within a short period of time. The explosive filler in both cases was reportedly ammonium nitrate, some chemical powder (believed to be sulfur) and shrapnel in the form of ball bearings, nuts and bolts. The explosive devices were placed in containers attached to bicycles or auto rickshaws or left on public buses to maximize casualties. In both cases, a timing device was used to trigger the blasts. The Ahmedabad and Bangalore attacks bear numerous similarities to May 2007 and November 2007 attacks in the Uttar Pradesh cities of Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow; a May 2008 attack in Jaipur, Rajasthan; and an August 2007 attack in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

A little-known group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the recent Bangalore and Ahmedabad attacks in an e-mail, claiming they were in retaliation for the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat in which more than 1,000 (mostly Muslim) people were killed. The Indian Mujahideen appears to be yet another front group for some of the better-known Kashmiri Islamist militant groups such as Laskhar-e-Taiba, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HUJI), which have cells sprinkled throughout India.